Frozen Longing
by The What-If Writer
Summary: ONE-SHOT. Prequel to both Ice Age 4 and my own fic "Memories", a story surrounding Gut's family. Contains one scene of violence and mention of blood.


** Frozen Longing**

**_GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!_**

**_WHY? WHY DID I DO THIS? YOU PEOPLE KEEP ASKING FOR THIS FIC TO COME OUT!_**

**_Now I'm sad._**

**_A prequel to my fic 'Memories' This is about Gut- Previiously called Guver's- Family._**

**_Sheeranne and Natta belone to me._**

* * *

The morning was early and the sun had barely touched the sky. The clouds were tinted with yellow and orange, much like some of the fruit that grew on the land below.

A small crouching figure crept silently as she possibly could through the bushes, towards sleeping couple who were completely unaware of her.

The husband was a large, intimidating looking ape with a blackish-blue pelt, and head fur that stuck up in an odd other ape, the wife, had long head-fur and an unusually light pelt, resembling the small, wide-awake ape who was sneaking up to them.

The small ape could hardy hold back a giggle, one that was threatening to burst from her lips at any moment. She slipped behind a large root, making sure the two elder apes (still fast asleep) weren't stirring.

Then, she bent her legs and sprang right onto her father's shoulder, yelling.

_"Boo!"_

Guver's eyes snapped open.

"Whoa! what-" He broke off in s shaky laugh as he realised who his attacker was.

"I scared you Daddy, I scared you like a_ tiger_!" She mimicked a tiger's growl, which, on a ape, looked quite ridiculous.

"I think you should work on being a quite ape, at least in the morning." Came a tired voice beside them. Apparently Guver's yell had awakened his wife, and she didn't seem too happy about it.

"Rarhrararah!" The little ape hopped from her father's shoulder and onto her mother's stomach, chattering away happily.

"Mommy, Mommy! I scared Daddy, Mommy!"

"Natta, you Mom's half asleep and being grumpy today. How about we-"

"I'll show you who's grumpy." His wife retorted, giving him a playful shove on the shoulder as she scooped her daughter up with her other arm. Natta was still bouncing up and down, constantly.

"I wanna go play, Mommy. Daddy, can we go play?"

"You haven't even had anything to eat yet-"

"I'll find something on the way." Guver said, Pulling himself up and stretching "Man, I never get used to these early mornings. C'mon, Natta, lets let your Mother have more beuty sleep."

His daughter hopped onto his back as he knuckled walked away, asked "Does Mommy need more beauty sleep?"

"She sure does, squirt!"

"I heard that, you two!"

"Sorry, Sheeranne. I was kidding, honey, you're gorgeous."

He could hear his wife tittering behind them as they left, and Guver laughed a little.

Natta jumped off his back and ran off ahead, still bouncing about.

"Daddy maybe I can pretend to be a jag-u-lar next time!"

"Pfft. Yeah. But not to me, it's Mom's turn to get scared awake."

Natta jumped back onto his back as he began climbing one of the fruit trees with incredible ease, with her singing _'swingdy-swing'_ In a undecided tune.

He found a thick branch to sit on and plucked some fruit from above, handing one of them to his daughter while munching on one himself.

"I wish I could swing really high. Mommy doesn't let we go all the way up without her."

"That's because you're a little squirt. You'll get bigger then you'll get better."

"I'm big enough. I'm almost as big as you, Daddy!" She stood up on the tips of her feet, trying to seem as tall as possible.

"Pfft. Nowhere near yet, squirt."

He allowed his Daughter to climb around the closer branches while he kept an eye on her. Though to him is seemed she was getting bigger everyday, Guver still kept in mind his daughter was still at a very young age- despite her saying otherwise. Yep, she was a bold little tyke all right, though she was a little...

"Daddy, I'm upside down. I wonder if my brain's went upside down..."

...strange sometimes.

"I'm just saying it would be cool!"

"Alright short-fry, we better be getting back to your grumpy mother before she begins wondering where we've gone."

"Aw..." The tiny ape pulled a wide eyed, starry look, pouting. "Please can I play a bit mooore?"

"Not with the face!" Guver plucked her off the branch and set her down on his back. "You do what Dad says. Cause I'm the boss."

"I thought Mommy was the boss."

"Er...sometimes." He said with a little hesitance. "But when Dad's around, he's in charge, okay?"

He climbed down quickly and made his way back to his wife.

Later on in the day, Both Sheeranne and Guver were sat on some smooth rocks near a small pool of water. Natta was splashing about in the pool, probably pretending she was a seal or a fish- something along those lines.

Sheenanne rose a hand to ruffly Guver's odd, sticking up head-fur "I'll never get over this hair. It makes you look like you're wearing some sort of hat."

"Yeah, I guess it does, but I kinda like it." He replied, running had hand through it himself and turnign his gaze back to Natta, still splashing about in the water.

"Seems like a minute ago she was only a baby, huh?" Sheeranne murmured quietly.

Guver smiled faintly. "Yeah. I'll probably turn one day, then look back and see her all grown up."

"Hmm. Well, let's enjoy these years until that day." The other ape replied quietly.

Natta came bounding over quickly. She jumped up onto her father's shoulder (this was beginning to be her favourite pass time) and tugged on his head hair.

"Daddy's got a pirate hat, Mommy."

Sheeranne burst out laughing, because that's exactly what it looked like.

"I was going to take Natta down to the canyon, Guver- My friend and her kid are watching the sunset there- she says that the light reflects or something like that."

"Hmm."

Guver wasn't the most social ape- that is, not amongst most other animals apart from his wife, child and some others he knew. The last thing he wanted to do was be around a gaggle of gossiping mothers (another encounter with his wife's disapproving friends ending with an argument with another husband, something Sheeranne would probably wished to avoid)

"Ah, you go on. I'm not into that kind of thing, Y'Know?"

Sheeranne sighed. "Are you sure? I mean, it's not like my friends I'll start insulting you again."

"Riiiigght."

Sheeranne rolled her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder why I married you?"

"Oh, because I'm the most handsome ape in the history of the planet?" Her husband replied with a grin. She rolled her eyes, but couldn't keep a smirk from forming.

"Huh. That time I met you I thought you where the scurviest, big-haired ape I'd ever seen."

"That's me."

Sheeranne snorted a little. Guver smiled wider and wrapped a long arm around her shoulders.

"Aw, c'mon, we both know we love each other. I don't even know why we argue."

"That's because you don't know anything." Sheeranne replied. Guver laughed lightly and pulled her closer for a kiss.

"Yucky!"

They broke apart upon seeing Natta hanging upside down from a tree branch nearby, her small face twisted in disgust.

"It looks even yuckier upside down!"

Sheeranne shook her head humorously and stood, kissing her husband once on the cheek.

"Well, If you're sure You'll not go, then we'll see you after sunrise."

"Yeah. See ya."

Sheeranne wandered over to Natta and scooped her daughter up. "C'mon, Natta, say bye-bye to Daddy."

"Bye, bye Daddy!" She called, waving an arm happily beofre following her mother through the jungle.

He raised a hand and waved at his daughter as she left. When they were gone,

Guver chuckled and shook his head. Funny little tyke...

"Glad you could make it, Sheeranne. See that doofus husband of yours dropped out again, huh?" Sheeranne's ant-eater friend, Norma, said as they sat in canyon, with some other animals scattered around the place, socializing.

Natta was running about with Norma's son Jiggy, happy enough.

"My husband's not doofus- he's just not into this kind of thing, Y'know, big gatherings."

"Uh-huh." her friend replied in a unimpressed tone. Sheeranne rolled her eyes and ignored her.

Soon enough, the sun began to set. Sheeranne found to her surprise that her ant-eater friend had been right- the sun peaked through the sides of the canyon majestically, turning the rock a reddish-orange. A lot of the animals in the area drew out the syllable 'oooooooh" in amazement.

"The rock is on fire, Mommy!"

Natta ran over to her mother and hopped onto her knees, glancing around excitedly.

"It's just the sunset, Natta. Nothing to be worried about."

"So the rock's not on fire? Aaaaw..."

They stared up at the setting sun, in complete silence. That is, complete silence, until the ground began to tremble.

the animals stopped watching and looked around nervously, tension beginning to rise.

Suddenly, a large _CRACK _was heard in the distance, and the ground beneath them took a sudden lurch

"An earthquake?" Sheeranne said loudly.

"Run! this _place is gonna collapse!"_

Guver's eyes widened upon hearing the noise. Staring down at the trembling ground and then up at a nearby mountain, he saw large cracks were spreading across the land, something that had happened years ago during the melting of the ice.

A sudden jolt of terror sent him rushing towards the canyon as fast as he could- for the only thing on his mind was getting to his family to see if they were alright.

Sheeranne held she daughter tight in one arm while she sped as fast as she could away from the falling rocks above. Animals were running along beside her, behind her and in front of her, all of them panicking.

She looked over he shoulder and saw that the whole pass seemed to be closing up.

The canyon, she remembered, sloped upwards to an exit back into the jungle, if she could just-

_"Mommy, look out!"_

A large, shattered boulder landed right in front of her, blocking her and many other's paths. Hundreds of small rocks were falling everywhere, and dust was rising like a fog.

She coughed, trying to free herself and her daughter from the bombardment, but it was too much. She fell on her side, curled up and tried to shield the both of them as they came hammering down.

By the time he'd got there, the trembling had ceased. Guver climbed down precariously into the canyon, staring with wide-eyes at all the piles of rock lying around the place.

"Sheeranne, Natta! _Where are you?"_

He hurried around the piles, pulling rocks away, trying to find a trace of them to no avail.

He went on searching long after the sun went down.

Guver looked around, panting. Then, he saw something.

A golden-furred hand partially covering in rubble. He gasped in sheer horror, but rushed over immediately and started pulling the rocks off, as fast as possible.

Sheeranne was awake, her eyes barely open. Her body was bruised and bloody, and when he finally managed to free her he found that in her arms was Natta, in a condition no better than hers.

He held the both of them in his large arms, fighting to find words. He found none.

If only he'd been here...he could've done something.

He could've done something.

"Guver..."

He looked at his wife's face, swallowing. "H-hey..."

"I just want you to know...I always loved you. From the first moment..."

"Y-yeah. I've...always loved you, too. Still...do..."

Sheeranne smiled faintly. Natta coughed roughly, still curled in her mother's bruised arm.

"Sheeranne...don't- don't leave..."

She looked back up at her husband and shook her head, but smiled still.

"I'll never leave, Guv. Never...not really..."

Her voice faded away with her breath. Guver sat silently, still holding her body is his arms, with tears spilling from wide, unbelieving eyes.

"No...Sh-Sheeranne..."

He held her close for what seemed like years, begging her to return, and not to leave- but it was no use. His wife was gone.

"D-Daddy...my tummy hurts..."

Guver's head jerked. Hated himself for almost forgetting, he reached down and pulled his injured daughter into his arms, holding her like he used to do when she was a baby.

She coughed a bit, looking around tiredly.

"What's wrong with Mommy...?"

"She's just asleep, Natta." He replied, his voice thick and husky. The injuries on his daughter's body where a lot worse than he'd thought- and some part of him knew she wouldn't make it.

"Daddy...before, when you said I was still little...I'm I any bigger now?"

Guver laughed shakily, but only for her sake. Only she could think of some so trivial to say...

"Yeah, kiddo. You're all grown up..."

"Oh..." Natta said as her eyes began to close "That's good then, Daddy..."

She went silent and still. Guver sat there, still cradling her body, with tears spilling down from lidded eyes.

It was few moments later that he realised for good that he was alone.

He'd buried his wife and child together in a small cove, somewhere peaceful and silent. He sat high up in a tree, staring miserably at the sky.

He'd never felt such anguish in his entire life. His wife and daughter- the two things he cared about most- were gone because he hadn't been there.

He lowered his head. It would've been better if he'd died, too.

The days seemed fused into one long cycle. He didn't eat, barley slept and spent his time traveling around the place, avoided contact with anyone else. When addressed, he retorted aggressively with insults and sometimes even violence.

It was as if a shell had grown over a frozen heart.

One day he was wandering through a rocky area alone, when he suddenly heard something growling behind him.

Turning with disinterest, he spotted a duo of sabers- moth male and large.

They were advancing, teeth barred.

One of them lunged. It slammed a paw harshly into his face, and he couldv'e sworn it had broken a few of his teeth. Guver, enraged with everything that had happened, whirled around with his claws brandished dangerous.

The last thing the tiger say was his own stomach being ripped open with a single slice. The other saber backed away from the violent ape, before turning and fleeing the scene.

The ape stared at his bloodied hands-and laughed bitterly, unaware of a gull up on a branch that was staring at him in awe.

"Who...are you?" It asked. Guver scowled and turned, looking up at the gull with a brow raised.

"What's it to you, beaky?"

"How did you do that?"

The ape brandished his bloodied claws as an answer.

"Again...who are you?"

"...Gut." The ape decided bluntly, Running his other hand through his pirate-hat hair, a sudden memory of being called just that popping up. "_Captain _Gut."

"What...are you some kind of pirate...?"

Gut paused for a while before turning and making his way past the tree on which the gull was perched "Am now."

"W-well. If you're looking for a high pair of eyes to join your new crew, as it seems you don't have one at the second, then I'm your gull." He said, swooping down and following him.

"Really. Huh."

"Yeah. Name's Silas, by the way."

Maybe leaving the land and getting out of this place wasn't such a bad idea after all, Gut mused to himself. Either way, he didn't care. He didn't really care about anyone or anything anymore.

From that day Gutt plagued the seas with his ever-growing crew. The pain and memories were still buried deep inside somewhere, but he chose to ignore them and plunder his way carelessly through his days.

Though, somewhere, way back in his mind, was the memory of his Wife and daughter, along with the frozen longing to be back with them once again.

* * *

**_I BLAME THE PEOPLE WHO INSISTED I GO ON WITH THIS IDEA._**

**_Now if you'll excuse me there's a nice corner over there I'm going to go and curl up in._**

**_Read and Review, please._**

**_*sighs. This is the last time I right anything sad/depressing, okay? NO MORE I SAY!*_**


End file.
